Portable road and turn-around



Nov. 17, 1959 A. P. HART 2,912,909

PORTABLE ROAD AND TURN-AROUND Filed 001;. l. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR ANDREW P. HART v 4M, M, MEL M x;

ATTORN Y5 Nov. 17, 1959 A. P. HART 2,912,909

PORTABLE ROAD AND TURN-AROUND Filed Oct. 1, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 vANDREW P. HART IN VEN TOR.

- 2,912,909 PORTABLE ROAD AND TURN-AROUND Andrew P; Hart, Jasper, Tex.Application October. 1954, SerialNo. 459,7541' 3 Claims. (CI; 94-11 Thisinvention relates to a portable road and turnaround and moreparticularly to a portable road incorporating a turn-around for heavyoif-the-road vehicles.

In many industries today, particularly the oil industry, there isoccasion to use heavy oif-the-road vehicles such as portable drillingrigs which must be able to go over terrain where it may not be practicalto have a conventional road because of expense or of the soilcharacteristics of the ground. It is the object of this invention toprovide for an economical portable road and cooperating turn-around areawhich is inexpensive to construct and which may be easily moved while atthe same time providing a sutlicient supporting surface for heavyofi-theroad vehicles.

Broadly, I propose to have a portable road comprising a plurality ofmats resting on a plurality of ties wherein each of the mats comprises anumber of parallel spaced runners and a number of parallel spaced crosspieces. The runners are fastened on one side to the cross pieces whichin turn lie normal to and extend beneath and beyond the runners. Each ofthe ties includes a plurality of spaced sleepers and a plurality ofparallel spaced tie bars along with a number of parallel spaced fillerpieces which correspond in number and spacing to the individual runnersof the various mats. A tie bar is fastened on one side to the sleeperswhich in turn lie normal to and extend beneath and beyond the tie barsWhile the filler pieces lie normal to and extend above the tie bars andparallel to the sleepers. Each of the mats is positioned on a tie sothat one or more cross-pieces at the end of a mat rests upon thetop ofthe sleepers of a tie and so that the runners of a mat adjoin the fillerpieces of a tie.

A turn-around area in which a vehicle may be turned may extend oif oneend of the portable roadway and comprises generally a series ofalternately inverted mats. The mats are so placed adjacent one anotherthat the runners of one mat rest upon the ground, while the cross piecesof the mats adjacent on either side rest upon the ground. In this mannerthe upper surface of all the mats comprising the turn-around area aresubstantially flush. The mats immediately adjacent the portable roadhave an end resting on the sleepers of the end tie of the road so thatthese particular mats are tilted to a height corresponding to the heightof a sleeper.

Referring to the drawings in which a preferred embodiment of myinvention is illustrated,

Fig. 1 illustrates a side view of a roadway constructed according to myinvention with a truck and trailer there- Fig. 2 is an enlarged planview of the roadway of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of a tie and adjacent mats taken along line 3-3 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of a roadway constructed according tomy invention with an adjacent turnaround mat; and

Fig. is1 a reduced sectional view of the turn-aroundarea of Fig. 4'taken along line- 5'5.

Referring'to the drawings in greater detail and. in particularto Figs.'1, 2 and 3, 1 illustrates generally a mat which comprises a plurality"of 'spaced runners 4' con-' nected-by a-plurallityof'spaced cross pieces3. The ends of each mat' comprisingthe roadway rest upon a tie denotedgenerally by 2 which "corrip'risesa plurality of parallel 'spaced'filler pieces 7' which are joined by means of a plurality" of parallelspaced tie bars 6; Tie bars 6, in turn are fastened to the to'p of'parallel spaced sleepers 5 which rest uponthe ground.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the ends of the mats, 1 are placed so thattheir endcross pieces'3 rest upon the top of sleepers 5. The mats 1 arepositioned on the ties so that their runners 4 are adjacent and parallelto the filler pieces 7. It is seen by further reference to Fig. 3 thatthe top of the runners 4 and the filler pieces 7 will be flush so thatthe roadway surface is smooth. Two parallel separate lines of mats areplaced on the ties so that each line will serve as a track for thewheels of a vehicle.

The material comprising the various parts of the ties and mats isusually timber. However, a light weight metal could also be used. It isreadily seen by reference to Fig. 2 that the roadway may be made of anylength by placing a desired number of mats and ties as shown in Fig. 2.

If the portable roadway is to make a sharp turn, or if it is desired tohave an area for a vehicle to turn around, a separate turn-around areamust be provided. Such a turn-around area is shown in Fig. 4 at the endof a portion of the roadway. The turn-around area comprises a pluralityof mats positioned alternately inverted, as shown in Fig. 5 so that theupper surfaces of the adjacent mats are substantially flush. It is seenby reference to Fig. 4 that the mats immediately adjacent the roadwayhave one of their ends resting on the tie bars of the last tie of theroadway. The other end of the mats rests directly on the ground whileboth ends of the mats separated from the roadway by the first mentionedmats are completely on the ground. The slight tilting of the matsadjacent the roadway does not hinder the operation of turning thevehicle around.

It is seen that by my novel combination of ties and mats that I canprovide for a portable roadway which may be extended over rough terrain.Also because of the relatively large bearing area of the sleepers withrespect to the ground, large weights may be placed on the roadway onsoft ground without danger of the vehicle becoming mired.

I claim:

l. A portable roadway comprising in combination a plurality of mats anda plurality of ties; each of said mats including a plurality of parallelspaced runners and a plurality of parallel spaced cross pieces, saidrunners being fastened on one side to said cross pieces lying normal to,beneath and extending beyond said runners, and each of said tiesincluding a plurality of parallel spaced sleepers, a plurality ofparallel spaced tie bars, and a plurality of parallel spaced fillerpieces corresponding in number and spacing to the runners of said mats,said tie bar being fastened on one side to said sleepers lying normalto, beneath and extending beyond said tie bars and said filler pieceslying normal to and above said tie bars; each of said mats resting ateach of its ends upon the sleepers of a tie with the runners and fillerpieces in alignment.

2. A portable roadway according to claim 1 having in addition incombniation one or more turn-around areas at one or more ends of saidroadway; each said turnaround area comprising a plurality of mats laidalter:

flately iflYefled i s nts anqther i i tctosspi ce cross .pieces of themats immediatelyadjacent an end of said roadway resting on the sleepersof a single-tie ineluded at the end of saidroadway, Y I p 3..As asuhcomhination, a turn-around area comprising a plurality of mats; eachmat comprising in turn a plurality of parallel spaced runners andaplurality of parallel spaced cross pieces, said runners being fastenedonone side to said cross pieces lying normalto and extending beyond saidrunnersysaid mats being laid adjacent one another and inverted withrespect to one another and with the cross pieces of adjacent matsoverlapping and with the runners of one mat being in the same horizontalr 4 plane as the cross pieces of the mat immediately adjacent to form ontheir upper surfaces a substantially flush level area.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 48,530Derrom s.. July 4, 1865 317,106 'Fiske May 5, 1885 398,939 Cadwell Mar.5, 1889 511,497 Blaine Dec. 26, 1893 1,480,732 Magrady Ian. 15, 19241,935,823 Turner Nov. 21, 1933 2,420,833 Monroe May 20, 1947 FOREIGNPATENTS 14,037 Great Britain 1906 591,893 Great Britain Sept. 2, 1947

